restitution

The District Attorney’s Office who prosecuted your
offender(s) likely provided you with a number of forms including a Restitution
Form. In order to receive restitution there are a number of requirements that
must be met including include submitting that form PRIOR to the offender being
sentenced by the judge.

Restitution is only for out-of-pocket expenses that are
directly related to the crime and can include medical expenses, counseling
expenses, car repairs and the like. It CANNOT include pain and suffering. You
will likely need documentation of the loss, which can include receipts,
estimates, and other similar forms of verification. RESTITUTION MUST BE ORDERED
AT THE TIME OF SENTENCING AND CANNOT BE ORDERED AFTERWARD.

Restitution is a condition of the offender’s sentence. The
offender will likely begin to satisfy this while in prison. A number of county
jails, as well as the state prison system, take a percentage (it varies from
county to county, but all State Prisons take 20%) of the money that is placed
in an inmate’s account including money received from family/friends and from
wages earned while in prison. Please be aware that employment within prison
typically pays less than 25 cents per hour and restitution payments while the
offender is in prison are typically small.

Money collected is sent to the county that prosecuted the
offender. The county will verify and disperse these funds as their procedures
dictate. This may include dividing payments received among many different
victims or satisfying older cases first. Due to the fact that counties have
different methods of doing this, it is necessary to call the prosecuting county’s
clerk of courts office to find out how your county does this.

If you believe that you should be getting restitution and are
not, please contact the victim/witness unit in the District Attorney’s Office
that handled your case to verify that the restitution was ordered. If it has
been ordered, OVA may be able to assist with information regarding payments for
state offenders.

You may also get information regarding payment of restitution
from the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System website, via a computer and the Internet.
You will need the docket number assigned to your case by the prosecuting
county. These typically look like this: CP-09-CR-0005432-2015.

RESTITUTION IN PA TASK FORCE

The Restitution in Pennsylvania Task Force was convened by
the Pennsylvania Office of the Victim Advocate in collaboration with the Center
for Schools and Communities, and brought together key stakeholder individuals,
agencies and organizations across all stages of victim restitution work.

This report
includes 47 recommendations, which are grounded in research and interrelated to
ensure that a comprehensive approach is used to move the recommendations
forward at the county and state levels. Many of the 47 recommendations are currently being implemented throughout the Commonwealth. If you wish to have a presentation done on the report please contact the Victim Advocate, Jennifer Storm at jstorm@pa.gov.

Special thanks for the content contributions made to this
report from Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts; Juvenile Court
Judges' Commission; Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole; Pennsylvania
Commission on Crime and Delinquency; and Pennsylvania Department of
Corrections. The project was funded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and
Delinquency.

As part of the taskforce recommendations, the PA Board of Probation
and Parole formed a Restitution Subcommittee to encourage and enhance the collection and
enforcement of restitution among those on supervision. A tip sheet was created to encourage state parole agents to increase their collection and enforcement efforts, while this sheet is created around state parole it can be adapted to fit county probation and
OVA would welcome the use of this sheet by anyone who felt it could motivate
agents and officers in assisting to restore crime victims financially to the
extent possible. Tips for ENHANCING RESTITUTION Collections.pdf